Wofford falls into division basement with loss to Davidson

Published: Saturday, February 2, 2013 at 3:15 a.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, February 3, 2013 at 12:37 a.m.

After making a charge at the Southern Conference’s top team, Wofford ultimately slipped to the bottom.

The Terriers cut a 15-point deficit in the second half down to six, but Davidson was too strong and took a 68-57 win Saturday night in the Benjamin Johnson Arena.

Wofford (8-15) dropped to 2-8 in the league and into last place in the South Division. The Citadel climbed out of that basement spot by scoring 60 points in the second half and winning at Furman, 84-79.

The new difference between best and worst wasn’t really too much — at least in the second half.

“You have to play hard the whole game, not just one half,” said Wofford freshman Spencer Collins (Easley High School), who led all scorers with a career-high 24 points. “Davidson did that and that’s why they got out to such a big lead. … We eventually picked up the intensity. In the first half, we didn’t have that and it got us in a hole.”

Davidson (15-7, 10-1) made 11 of its first 14 shots, all coming from close range, to build a 25-13 advantage. Collins was keeping the Wildcats from running away with it before the Terriers got out of the starting gate. When it was 28-20, he had 12 of Wofford’s points.

But the Wildcats continued to get layups, a dozen in the first half alone in building a 38-23 advantage. At the break, they were outscoring Wofford on points in the paint, 26-4. During one stretch, they made eight straight shots.

“We ran our offense really efficiently,” Davidson 6-foot-10 senior forward Jake Cohen said. “We executed the game plan really well and got the shots we wanted to get. When you have the weapons like we do and we run our stuff right, we’re going to shoot the ball the way we did in the first half.”

Wofford made Davidson work much harder in the second half. The Wildcats, after making their first shot after the break, went nine possessions without a field goal, managing only a pair of free throws. Their shooting percentage went from 63 in the first half to 32 in the second.

“We played better defense in the middle and didn’t let Cohen get in comfortable spots,” Wofford head coach Mike Young said. “He’s so good. He’s such a good player. Lee Skinner did a whale of a job on him and we were quicker to the ball, so we were able to get a guard down there to help. It gave them something to think about.”

Wofford point guard Indiana Faithfull made a 3-pointer from the corner and then another from the opposite side to make the score 54-47 with 7:30 remaining. Collins hit a pull-up jumper and drove from the top of the key to the basket for a three-point play that cut Davidson’s advantage to 59-53 with less than five minutes left.

“Getting close is no consolation,” Young said. “We’ve come too far to feel good about losing. We’ve got to win.”

The Terriers committed three straight turnovers after trimming the deficit to six points, simply running out of time.

“We know they are a tough team, especially on their floor,” Cohen said. “We knew we couldn’t just walk away with it. We thought they were going to fight back and they did. I give them credit for not giving up. They made it tough on us for 40 minutes.”

“That’s what Wofford does,” Davidson head coach Bob McKillop said. “You know they’re going to make you chase them in their offense until they get something that’s open. They’re going to capitalize on that. They’re going to be gritty and tough as nails on defense.”

Faithfull finished with eight points, six rebounds and a career-high nine assists in playing all 40 minutes. Karl Cochran added 14 points and two assists. The Terriers had just two points off the bench, however, while Davidson had 15 despite using only seven players.

Wofford plays host 7 p.m. Thursday to Elon, which leads the North Division with records of 15-7 overall and 8-2 in conference play.

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